1. Field of the Invention
The described invention relates to the field of optics. In particular, the invention relates to alignment and coupling of photonic components.
2. Description of Related Art
Photonic components propagate light and include waveguides, optical fibers, amplifiers, couplers, splitters, and other devices for carrying light-based signals. A fiber optic bundle has multiple optical fibers for propagating light, and an array waveguide (AWG) has multiple channels for propagating light within. Coupling a fiber optic bundle to an AWG, for example, is not easy. Manual alignment requires detecting and maximizing light connectivity between the fiber optic bundle and the AWG. Once a good connection is obtained, permanently fixing the alignment is required.
FIG. 1A shows a prior art fiber optic bundle 10. The fiber optic bundle 10 comprises multiple optical fibers 12 sandwiched between two retainers 16 and 18. The retainers are substrates made of silicon, for example, that are appropriately masked with a suitable etch mask. Thereafter, symmetrically spaced unmasked areas of the substrate are exposed to a chosen anisotropic etchant, such as hot KOH or ethylenediamine. This etchant preferentially attacks a chosen (100) crystallographic plane of the silicon substrate and preferentially etches in a vertical direction until V-shaped grooves (“V-grooves”) are attained. Upon completion of these V-shaped grooves, optical fibers are placed in the grooves and come to rest in alignment with the center of the V-grooves between the retainers 16 and 18.
FIG. 1B shows a prior art single retainer without the optical fibers. The two retainers 16 and 18 form a termination block for the fiber optic bundle by sandwiching the optical fibers together within their V-grooves 24. The termination block maintains the spacing between the optical fibers and allows for easily handling the fiber optic bundle. The ends of the optical fibers 22 are typically polished after being set in the termination block.
FIG. 2 shows a prior art example of an AWG. The AWG comprises multiple channels 30 running through the AWG. The AWG may comprise a glass, silicon, oxide or polymer substrate. The channels are made of materials having a higher index of refraction than the rest of the AWG. AWGs and fiber optic bundles may be made with various numbers of channels.
FIG. 3 shows a side view of a fiber optic bundle being aligned to an AWG 42. The optical fibers of the fiber optic bundle and the channels of the AWG 42 have identical spacings and number. A dotted line 45 shows the channels in the AWG. An epoxy 50 is used to hold the termination block 40 of the fiber optic bundle to the AWG 42, but alignment must first be achieved and then maintained. It is difficult to achieve alignment, i.e., photonically couple the optical fibers to the AWG channels, and then to epoxy without losing alignment.